Changed my mind
by LauraS7
Summary: What if Peter had changed his mind and warned the Potters that Lord Voldemort was on his way? What if the marauders were there to face Voldemort and Harry never had to become the boy who lived? Slightly Sirius focused. Dark in places. Probably K. T just t
1. Graduation day

Disclaimer: I own nothing. If i did there would be a few changes. Jk Rowling owns everything you recognise. Thanks go to her for letting us use (abuse) her characters.

If you like the idea of my story go and Read the Promises Unbroken Series by Robin4. It's excellent.

**Chapter 1**

Sirius looked round at his three friends, his three brothers, as they sat around the table in the flat's small, but functional kitchen. His flat, a place where he, Sirius Black, fully qualified wizard, lived as part of the adult wizarding world. He could hardly believe it. A quick grin crept across his face as his thoughts flew back to the events earlier that afternoon. Graduation day, their last day as students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the culmination of seven years of adventures, pranks and occasional studying.

_That afternoon…._

The Gryffindor boys lay asleep in their round dormitory, the early morning sunlight just beginning to creep in over the tops of the trees in the forbidden forest.

Sirius struggled to stay asleep against the light that was flowing in, but eventually gave in. Lying in bed with his eyes closed he sleepily considered the days classes, trying to remember if he had managed to complete all of his homework. Then it hit him. No more homework. Ever.

Opening his eyes a crack he could just see a set of Gryffindor red graduation robes hanging from a bedpost on the bed opposite him. Graduation Day. The robes belonged to Remus, he was the only one of the four boys who would be that organised. Gryffindor red robes, He smiled to himself, if anyone had suggested, seven years ago, that he would be graduating a Gyffindor he would have laughed at them, or at least thrown a nasty hex their way. He had turned away from the dark influence of his relations and formed a new family.

As the light continued the flood into the room in ever increasing amounts Sirius grimaced and decided he was fighting a losing battle. Stretching sleep filled muscles he climbed out of bed, put on a robe and headed for the bathroom.

Peter was the next to wake as Sirius let the bathroom door fall closed with a bang. He knew exactly what day it was and was dreading it. Everything would change now. He would have to strike out on his own. In classes when he had a problem one of the others would help him out, or just plain do it for him if he took too long. Out in the real world he suspected it might be different, everyone would know him for the fraud he was. Poor stupid fat Peter who couldn't do anything.

Catching sight of Remus' neatly hung robes he frowned as he remembered his own, cast off into a corner after a trying on session when Sirius and James had unkindly, though possibly truthfully he amended, commented on his likeness to a big round shiny tomato when dressed in his Gryffindor red robes. This had of course made him flush red with embarrassment, which according to Sirius had only completed the look. It had been a good five minutes before either James or Sirius has been able to form a coherent sentence, and by that point Peter has ripped the robes off and flung them into a corner in a huff.

Rolling over in bed he decided that he was still angry with Sirius and James and didn't want to have to talk to them. He would get up later when there was more going on.

After he had finished in the bathroom Sirius returned to the main dormitory and surveyed his sleeping friends. He decided that early morning insomnia was lonely, that it was high time that everyone else got up anyway, first breakfast sitting would start soon and he was hungry. And if he couldn't sleep then he would make damn sure that no one else could either.

Transforming into his dog form, one exuberant bound took him onto the bed of James Potter. His best friend, and as of the previous summer when the Potters had kindly taken him in, adopted brother. James gave a grunt as Sirius landed on him and struck out, but he was too late.

Yet another bound had taken him onto the bed of one Remus Lupin who jerked awake with a very satisfying 'Ack' noise.

Next the big black dog turned his attention to the bed of Peter Pettigrew, only to find it empty. Peter, having been awake already, had decided to make his way to the bathroom and avoid the 'joy' of Padfoot's wake up call.

By this point James has reached for his glasses and was sitting up in bed.

"Do you know Sirius, sometimes I really hate you." James grumbled his voice still thick with sleep.

Sirius looked at him, still in dog form, and grinned. Sitting back on his haunches he tensed, ready for another flying leap.

"Oh no you don't." said James, who had already began climbing out of bed. "Go and bother Remus. I think he's gone back to sleep, I'm sure he's just desperate to be woken up again by a big, smelly mutt."

Sirius silently agreed with James and padded off in that direction. Remus could be heard to mutter a muffled

"Gerroff.."

Thhis turned into a higher pitched shriek as a cold wet nose was pushed into his one visible ear. Sighing, he too began the process of leaving his warm bed and preparing for this day that would see them change from boys to men.

One hour and fourty Five minutes later the four boys stood ready, their robes smoothed, the red standing out vividly against the gleaming thread of gold trimming, and the proud Gryffindor lion intricately embroidered on their front left breasts.

Remus glanced over all of them. Remus himself always wore his school uniform correctly and with pride, and had treasured his smart graduation robes from the time they got them, even, when no one was looking, going as far as to polish the gold fastening.

Even James, since becoming head boy, had smartened up in his general appearance and so climbing into the stiff confines of the formal graduation robes would not have been too much of a trial.

For Sirius there had been no hope, perhaps Remus wondered it was the repressed formality of his childhood, being forced to wear formal robes to every family meal and occassion. Whatever the cause, Sirius rebelled against uniform. His tie was usually tied too short, numerous shirt buttons undone and his robes attractively crumpled.

Today however was different, on this day they had all taken extra time with their appearance. Sirius, who according to James, managed to get out of bed looking immaculate, had spent some half an hour getting his hair to lay just right and looked, as ever, a true aristocratic and stunning. Though, Remus admitted to himself, his well groomed look may have been helped by the comparison between himself and James, whom he was never far from. James had also spent a good half an hour working on his hair, only to have it look as much of a mess as usual and had given up in disgust.

James too had evidently been looking over his friends in their attire.

"We look… so smart. It makes me feel… proud" James suggested uncertainly.

Sirius snickered.

"As pretty as a picture." He contributed, voice brimming with false sentimentality and barely contained laughter.

Remus just gave him a look.

"Come on," Sirius whinged, "We're the Marauders! Since when do we take any of this stuff seriously?"

"Are we?" said James, continuing in his thoughtful tone. "Can we still be Marauders without Hogwarts?"

Remus decided that the conversation had taken a definite turn for the worse and decided to try to lighten up his friends. "And if a tree falls in the forest where there is no one to hear it does it make a sound? You are being ridiculous. We are the Marauders, and that's what we will always be. It isn't the school, or the pranks or sharing a dorm that makes us what we are its.. its…" he trailed off at this point, unable to find words to adequately describe what his friends meant to him.

"The Other Stuff." Peter interjected in a quiet, but surprisingly firm voice.

"Yeah," agreed Sirius "Like being able to wake each other up at 3am." The other three boys glared at him.

"Sharing secrets" Remus offered.

"Forgiving mistakes and putting up with immense stupidity." James added.

"And that's not going to change. I can't see James or Sirius giving up being immensely stupid." Remus said with a grin "And I'm sure Peter and I will continue to put up with it."

"We sound like a right bunch of girls. Let's stop now before we start hugging and kissing." And with that Sirius led the way down the staircase, through the common room and out of the portrait hall to graduation and beyond.

_Authors note:_

This, hopefully, is the start of a much longer fic detailing the Marauders lives based around an all crucil 'what if' statement. What is Peter had turned back to his friends at the last minute? What could have been different?

I don't have anyone beta reading this for me - no one understands the fascination with fan fic, so any mistakes are my own and if you would like to point them out feel free to do so. Reviews make everyhting worthwhile!!


	2. One final Prank

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, J.K. Rowling owns all. Its not fair, but then nor is life. I don't earn any money from this, also not fair! Please review – it doesn't take long and it makes me so happy!_

**Chapter 2 **

A promising morning had turned into a glorious afternoon as crowds of people spilled out of Hogwarts Great Hall.

"Good speech James" shouted one of the Ravenclaw boys as the graduating class of Hogwarts filled out into the afternoon sun.

"I just don't believe we let a golden opportunity of humiliating Snape in front of the whole school escape. Our last chance James. But what with high and mighty of the left of me, " He gestured wildly towards Remus, "and model of responsibility to the left of me," Yet another grand gesture was thrown, this time in the direction of James, "it's a wonder I've had any fun at all these last seven years."

Remus grinned slightly. It was true, between him and James they had managed to curb Sirius' prankster spirit, at least for the afternoon. Though he reflected the price had been high. In the process of wrestling Sirius for his wand in order to prevent the inevitable stream of hexes and curses that were sure to fly in the general direction of the Slytherins, and the more particular direction of Severus Snape, there had been a few unfortunate accidents. Remus provided a distraction while James had made a flying tackle and pinned Sirius to the ground. Remus had grabbed Sirius arms and Peter had used this opportunity to whisk away said boy's wand. Sirius later declared that turning Remus' favourite collection of books into a small forest of toadstools, the transfiguration of James pile of Wonder witch magazines into advanced, and in Remus opinion very interesting, arithmancy journals, and the removal of all of Peter's hair, had been accidental. Remus however remembered Sirius in their classes on wandless magic; he had been one of the best in their class. Luckily, one quick trip to the infirmary had sorted Peter's hair though Sirius had begged him to keep it as it was.

Just then Sirius caught sight of a group of people dressed in formal black robes, trimmed in green and embroidered with silver snakes. His expression filled briefly with hope as he took a step towards them.

"Mother..." he started.

As quickly as it had arrived, the expression of hope vanished replaced by something that, just for a moment, was bitter and twisted. Not quite quickly enough to be obviously deliberate, the tall, regal woman turned away from her eldest son, and started gushing over her niece, who was also part of the graduating class.

"Narcissa!" He heard her exclaim "You look delightful, so mature, a fine daughter of Slytherin, you have done our family proud" Sentimentality oozed through Lady Black's acclamation of Narcissa's virtues, though each sentence had a bitter twist, as though she were making each one an insult just for Sirius.

James shot a concerned glace towards Sirius. He had been present when Sirius had received the Howler telling him of the disinheritance from the most Ancient and Noble house of Black. To the outside world, Sirius had seemed to take it well. However he had never been quite as lively and unfettered after that, and in one uncharacteristically emotional moment, aided by a fairly large amount of fire whiskey, he had demanded of James to know why they would do such a thing. The former Black heir went on to add that he didn't know how to get through life as an ordinary person, and finally, in a small quite voice asked that shouldn't blood mean more than that? Shouldn't family love you no matter what?

Sirius just looked at him and shrugged "Two can play at that game." He murmured softly.

Putting on a huge smile he suddenly moved towards, and then beyond, his parents, brother, aunt and uncle.

"Ma and Pa Potter, Mr and Mrs Pettigrew! I'm so glad you could make it!" Turning towards the Potters he added in a slightly too loud voice, "it means so much that you're here to support me. It's because of you that I can stand here proudly today."

The group standing nearby had not escaped the Potters' notice. Mrs Potter sighed.

"You know you're like a son to us Sirius."

Just then James and Peter ambled over. Both boys were instantly enveloped in crushing hugs.

"Mum…" Peter groaned. "Not in front of everyone."

"I'm just so proud of you Petey." She sobbed, "You know for ages we thought he might not be good enough to get to Hogwarts, then we thought he might not get any OWL's, but he just keeps on surprising us. I'm just so proud. You've done better than me or your father ever did. And I think that's due to your wonderful friends!"

At this point she broke away from Peter and started to move towards James and Sirius. The boys exchanged terrified glances and backed away slightly, concerned that they were to be the next victims of this sobbing hugging monster.

"Anyway," said James, trying to attract the attention away from Peter and his clearly embarrassing situation, "I was thinking we might have a post graduation party, we could have it at ours couldn't we?" he said directing his attention away from Mrs. Pettigrew and towards his own Mother and Father.

"Well…" started Mrs Potter.

"This would just be a small gathering wouldn't it James?" Mr Potter asked nervously.

"Umm.. Yes?" suggested James, looking pleadingly at his mother.

"Alright then." She finally agreed.

Peter, having finally managed to extract himself from the loving embrace of his mother, looked at James in amazement. Mr and Mrs Potter had just agreed to let them have a party, of unknown size, with no provisos, conditions, threats or warnings.

Mrs Pettigrew, by this point, had managed to regain her composure enough to start the inevitable quiz about each of the boys' plans for life beyond Hogwarts.

"Sirius – what are you planning to do now" she asked.

Sirius sighed, he had known it was coming, had been asked a hundred times by a variety of professors, relatives, and, in his opinion, a league of adoring fans. The most memorable occasion had been his career interview with professor McGonagall. Together they had moved from Sirius idea of 'something really exciting with explosions' towards a more specific and realistic plan.

"I've applied for the auror training program – I have interview and entrance tests in the next few weeks." He explained, as though reading from a script.

"Very impressive – we need more young men like you to protect the innocent and fight for the light," Mr Pettigrew added.

Sirius looked embarrassed mumbled something that could have been 'yeah well..' To his great relief the attention of both Pettigrews shifted onto James. James paled under the attention. Unlike Sirius, he did not have the scripted answer, and had to fumble around for something reasonably intelligent sounding to say.

"What about you James?" Mrs Pettigrew enquired kindly.

"Umm… uhhh… well… plans, I'm not really sure at the moment. I'm thinking about going into something to do with umm government." James stuttered.

Peter Sirius exchanged a glance, they had had similar conversations with James who steadfastly refused to chose a career. James had had a privileged upbringing and his parents refused him nothing. James had a nice fat bank account as well as the future prospect of the Potter fortune sitting in Gringotts and therefore didn't feel any pressing need to work to earn his living. His careers advice session with Professor McGonagall had been considerably less productive then Sirius'. It followed the lines of 'Mr. Potter, you must have some ambition in life?' with James' answer of 'I'd like Lily Evans to go out with me,' repeated in several guises. At this point the transfiguration professor had rolled her eyes, muttered something about 17 year old boys, and dismissed him.

Seeing James floundering Mrs Potter stepped in.

"So Peter what are your plans?" she asked.

"I've applied for an internship in the Department of the Disposal of Magical Creatures." He added nervously, thinking that even James had managed to make his non-plans sound far more exciting and worthwhile than his own entry-level job.

"I have to do some basic entrance tests, standard spells, basic potion making. James says he'll help me study. I'll have to start at the very bottom. I'll probably be making the tea for the next year, but at least I'm starting somewhere and I get paid."

Privately he thought that, though he was in theory fairing better than James was, in that he actually had a plan, in comparison to Sirius he seemed a bit of a failure. He comforted himself by thinking that at least Remus didn't seem to have a specific direction in mind either, though he did have the added complication of being a werewolf.

Finally, the conversation seemed to have been exhausted. Mr and Mrs Pettigrew dragged Peter off to meet up with some old friends and Mr and Mrs Potter became caught up in a serious looking conversation with Professor Dumbledore and another intense looking man. James briefly wondered what dark thoughts could be creating such gloomy expressions on the beautiful summer's day it had turned out to be, but then reflected that these were dark times, and, as much as they had tried to ignore them while in school, bad things were happening in the world. The so-called Dark Lord was becoming more and more powerful and innocent people were dying. Not a day went past when more news of horrific acts of the Dark Lord and his followers was uncovered. Turning his mind away from such dark thoughts James looked around for his friends. Spotting Sirius and Remus, he headed over towards their favourite tree next to the lake.

As he got closer, he could tell that Sirius was not happy. He was clearly tensed up and pacing around waving his arms at Remus. Moving closer still James began to be able to hear snatches of the conversation.

"…and then the slimy git goes over to my father and starts to – to – smooze. Regulus was practically licking the mud off his boots, the little suck up. Ooh Serverus," Sirius began, doing a high-pitched, whiny impression of his younger brother, "How nice it must be to be a fully qualified wizard, able to make all your own choices." He added a few Regulus-like hand flourishes, and then continued with his tirade. "And all the while the bastard is _looking_ at me with this disgusting smug look on his face. I'm going to get him, and Regulus. You just wait and see."

Remus looked pained. He was half torn between sympathising with Sirius, who was after all one of his best friends, and poised ready to restrain said best friend, should he decide to exact revenge at that precise moment.

"Sirius, why don't you calm down? We'll go inside and get our trunks, we've got to clear our dormitories this afternoon. You said I could stay in the flat with you until I get myself sorted out. Is that still okay?" Remus asked hesitantly, desperate to distract his enraged friend.

"Yeah yeah, its fine." Sirius replied absent-mindedly, still preoccupied with shooting looks of pure hatred towards his brother and long term arch nemesis.

James joined them, and together the three boys headed across the grounds, and into the castle on their way towards Gryffindor Tower.

As they were heading down the second floor corridor, past the portrait of the lordly looking gentleman clutching a ridiculously fluffy cat, they heard a familiar set of voices. Remus groaned inwardly as he recognised Serverus Snape's sarcastic bite and Regulus's aristocratic drawl. Sirius often made fun of this drawl, without realising that he and his brother were virtually indistinguishable in the way they spoke. Sirius eyes took on a strange glow and he drew out his wand.

"Sirius please…" Remus begged pleadingly, already knowing it was probably hopeless.

Backing against a wall Sirius waited for the pair of Slytherins to round the corner.

"Serpensortia!" he shouted with gusto.

A large serpent began to snake its way around the corner, making terrible hissing noises. As it came into view of Regulus and Snape they pulled out their wands. Sirius, however, was quicker.

"Bondiporus! Levicorpus!"

The first curse caused Snape and Regulus to become inextricably stuck together, while the second, aimed mainly at Snape, caused him to flip over and become suspended in mid-air, upside down. Regulus, who was still stuck to Snape, was left dangling at a most uncomfortable angle with Snape's robes, which, due to his position, were no longer covering his undergarments, hanging over his face.

Suddenly the stunned silence was rent with laughter. James had been a few paces behind Remus and Sirius, and as he came round the corner and first saw the scene, he burst in to uncontrollable laughter. This set off Sirius, who found it necessary to grab onto Remus as he fought for breath. Remus himself was trying to contain his giggles. The pair of Slytherin boys did look quite comical dangling there – a tangle of robes and underwear.

"What was that first curse you use Sirius? I don't think I know it." Remus asked.

Sirius looked a little uncomfortable. "Oh just something I read in a book somewhere. Come on lets go and get our things. Someone will be along soon enough to let them down." He seemed keen to leave the subject of the mysterious curse behind.

Remus looked confused. He was certain he had never heard of that curse, and was equally certain that there were no books in the school library that Sirius had read and he had not. Maybe Sirius had meant the library in his family home. Remus was sure that there would be books in there that would not be found in the Hogwarts library, not even in the restricted section. Ah well, he thought, and set off after James and Sirius, who had already continued on their original journey to complete their packing ready to leave.

_Authors note: I've got the first 13 chapters planned, so there is a storyline and I do know where I'm going.. Though I'm not convinced Sirius and the gang don't have their own ideas as well! Any ideas are welcome. Reviews increase the chance of regular updates._

_Next chapter: The boys have interviews to attend and one of them gets made an interesting offer…_


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